City: Boulder, CO

Category: Relocation

Address: 17 miles from Boulder

Description: The red sandstone around Lyons has been the source of much quarry rock, locally called flagstone. Fifteen sandstone buildings, including the Old Stone Congregational Church, are in Lyons’s historical district. This dark-brown flagstone church, square with a short steeple, is just north of Main Street, on High Street. The quarries that provided the stone for these buildings still operate around Lyons and are excellent choices if you want flagstone for your patio, classic Colorado stones for your home, or beautiful boulders for your garden. Lyons itself has a small-town atmosphere, with cottonwood trees shading the sparkling St. Vrain River, towering blue spruce trees standing beside turn-of-the-20th-century bungalows, and plenty of pretty contemporary homes. Vacation cabins and high-tech companies are here, plus many good restaurants and antiques shops, some decorated to give a Germanic/Slavic feel to the shopping areas.Bring your swimsuit and make time to visit Meadow Park on the town’s western edge; here the St. Vrain accommodates swimmers with an excellent swimmin’ hole with overhanging rocks perfect for cannonballing. There are also baseball diamonds, playgrounds, and lots of places to climb, hike, and picnic.The prettiest way to reach Lyons is to take 28th Street or Broadway north from Boulder—the two converge into US 36. The route winds beside the foothills, and less than 20 miles from Boulder it dead-ends into Highway 66. Turn left here, pass roadside shops and eating places, and you’re in Lyons. The Town Hall is at 432 Fifth Avenue (303-823-6622).